Maybe - I certainly used to walk to school down that lane. And there is a very active local history society in Halliwell - my dad's a stalwart member and lets me know what they're up to. My articles on Smithills history have appeared in their newsletter before anywhere else. tuesday is from very close to there also, but we are a generation apart nearly. Roy Lancaster, the gardener, also; McKellen, of course, and Sara - the unlistenable to - not that far away. It was my mother's ancestors that built the monuments - but I can't explain your sigma-marked stone. There are some boundary stones with W's on (first private owner of Bolton's initial), and there is another little rock with a combined G and R, not far away. There are no coal workings up there and the depression could correspond with a chamber that has collapsed or it could correspond with an unrecorded excavation. It certainly isn't the remnant of a Bell Pit as the county archs. state. There's another one closer to the wire fence near the Rhododendron bushes, but it is much lower.
